United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had “a good and very productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida later today. He did not provide details about what was discussed. Meanwhile, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that the pair had spoken, citing Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Taking to Truth Social, Trump wrote that the meeting would take place in the main dining room of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida’s Palm Beach at 1pm (11pm PKT). “Press is invited,” the US president wrote. Zelensky and Trump intend to hammer out a plan to end the war in Ukraine, but face major differences on crucial issues and provocations from Russian air attacks. Russia struck Kyiv and other parts of war-torn Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, knocking out power and heat in parts of the capital. Zelensky called it Russia’s response to the ongoing US-brokered peace efforts. Zelensky has told jou...
Trump‑era tariffs, bruising rate realities and a burned‑out memecoin cycle are forcing crypto to shed its Peter Pan phase and build tokens with real utility, says Animoca Brands’ Yat Siu. For Animoca Brands co‑founder Yat Siu, 2025 will be remembered as “the Trump year,” not because US President Donald Trump saved crypto, but because the industry bet too heavily on him and mispriced everything from tariffs to rate cuts. Trump was supposed to be crypto’s cheat code in 2025. Instead, Bitcoin (BTC) is limping into the year’s end, facing its fourth annual decline in history. Memecoin liquidity has been sucked into political side quests, and one of the sector’s longest‑running builders thinks the market over‑trusted the new president. “If I had to give it a grade, I would say B-/C+,” Siu said. Traders treated Trump as if crypto were his “first child,” he says, when in reality, “we’re probably his third, fourth or fifth child, maybe even an eighth child.” Read more
United States President Donald Trump urged the Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday to “embarrass” any Democrats who worked with Jeffrey Epstein after it began poring over millions of documents linked to the late sex offender. The DOJ began releasing records last week from the investigation into Epstein, a wealthy financier who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking underage girls for sex. The latest disclosures on Tuesday contain numerous references to Trump, including documents detailing flights he took on Epstein’s private jet. Trump was once a friend of Epstein but distanced himself after his crimes came to light, and has appeared reluctant to discuss the case despite strong support in the Republican party for fuller transparency about the deceased man’s associates. “Now 1,000,000 more pages on Epstein are found. DOJ is being forced to spend all of its time on this Democrat inspired Hoax,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Friday. “The Dems are the ones who worked with...
The Trump family’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial, has seen its fair share of controversy, and its token is ending the year significantly down. World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto portfolio project, started the year with high hopes. But as the year draws to a close, the fund has barely seen gains. US President Donald Trump announced the launch in September 2024 while he was still on the campaign trail for the 2024 elections. Led by his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, it marked a significant shift in tone for crypto policy in the US. The program started strong. It launched its own World Liberty Financial (WLFI) governance token and made large acquisitions of high-market-cap cryptocurrencies. Read more
Keonne Rodriguez said on social media that he will report to prison on Friday to begin his five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. Keonne Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to one felony count related to his role at Samourai Wallet, is calling on US President Donald Trump to pardon him, citing similar language that has been successful in previous pardon applications. In a Thursday X post, Rodriguez said he would report to prison on Friday, where he will serve a five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. The Samourai co-founder claimed there were no “victims” to his crime, and blamed his incarceration on “lawfare perpetrated by a weaponized Biden DOJ.” In a message tagging Trump, Rodriguez expressed hope that the US president would issue a federal pardon for him and William “Bill” Lonergan Hill, another Samourai executive who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years. Rodriguez blamed “activist judges” for his legal troubles, claiming he was targeted by a “political ...
Keonne Rodriguez said on social media that he will report to prison on Friday to begin his five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. Keonne Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to one felony count related to his role at Samourai Wallet, is calling on US President Donald Trump to pardon him, citing similar language that has been successful in previous pardon applications. In a Thursday X post, Rodriguez said he would report to prison on Friday, where he will serve a five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter. The Samourai co-founder claimed there were no “victims” to his crime, and blamed his incarceration on “lawfare perpetrated by a weaponized Biden DOJ.” In a message tagging Trump, Rodriguez expressed hope that the US president would issue a federal pardon for him and William “Bill” Lonergan Hill, another Samourai executive who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years. Rodriguez blamed “activist judges” for his legal troubles, claiming he was targeted by a “political ...
US President Donald Trump and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shared a close relationship, with the latter calling Trump his “best friend”, according to a New York Times investigation published on Thursday. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of underage girls. He held close associations with several influential people, including business tycoons and celebrities. In November, Democrats released emails that suggested Trump was aware of the financier’s sexual abuse and definitely “knew about the girls.” According to the NYT, while Trump was not found implicated in Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of minors, it appeared that the two men’s relationship was “far closer” than what the US president maintains. “Beginning in the late 1980s, the two men forged a bond intense enough to leave others who knew them with the impression that they were each other‘s closest friend,” NYT reported, with Epstein reported to have claimed that he w...